Semiautomated Editing of Vessel Segmentation Masks

Information

• Publication Type: Bachelor Thesis
• Workgroup(s)/Project(s):
  • Visualization Group
• Date: March 2017
• Date (Start): 1. October 2016
• Date (End): 8. March 2017
• Matrikelnummer: 1226809
• First Supervisor: Eduard Gröller

Abstract

This thesis describes a technique for editing segmentation results of vessels, which should enhance usage and reduce work duration for physicians by using a simple and fast way of interaction. Moreover also a quick calculation of an accurate result was of primary interest. Since vascular structures are vulnerable to diseases, vessels are the main focus of this thesis. Nowadays, Image Analysis is able to facilitate the medical diagnosis procedure. Since stroke treatment is time-crucial, appropriate algorithms should be fast and enable an accurate depiction of the arteries to simplify the diagnostic process. However, because automatic segmentation is often quite inaccurate and manual segmentation is tedious, neither of these two methods alone is often adequate for usage. Because of this we suggest to combine the fast automatic segmentation and the exact manual editing done by clinical experts. To reduce effort and working time of the medical staff, this thesis describes different techniques, which were developed to modify and, more importantly, to improve the segmentation results. The segmentation mask can be altered as its components can be separately removed and independent elements can be connected. A framework was implemented, with which a user is able to perform these tasks interactively. The deletion process is supported by various metrics, which enable the search and removal of similar structures. Also this framework assists the reconnection of vessels by finding the most likely connection by the means of image intensities and their gradients. The main goal of this thesis was to facilitate and accelerate the editing process by implementing fast semi-automatic algorithms. Intuitive interaction methods also had a major impact on the design.

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BibTeX

@bachelorsthesis{Heim-2017,
  title =      "Semiautomated Editing of Vessel Segmentation Masks",
  author =     "Anja Heim",
  year =       "2017",
  abstract =   "This thesis describes a technique for editing segmentation
               results of vessels, which should enhance usage and reduce
               work duration for physicians by using a simple and fast way
               of interaction. Moreover also a quick calculation of an
               accurate result was of primary interest. Since vascular
               structures are vulnerable to diseases, vessels are the main
               focus of this thesis. Nowadays, Image Analysis is able to
               facilitate the medical diagnosis procedure. Since stroke
               treatment is time-crucial, appropriate algorithms should be
               fast and enable an accurate depiction of the arteries to
               simplify the diagnostic process. However, because automatic
               segmentation is often quite inaccurate and manual
               segmentation is tedious, neither of these two methods alone
               is often adequate for usage. Because of this we suggest to
               combine the fast automatic segmentation and the exact manual
               editing done by clinical experts. To reduce effort and
               working time of the medical staff, this thesis describes
               different techniques, which were developed to modify and,
               more importantly, to improve the segmentation results. The
               segmentation mask can be altered as its components can be
               separately removed and independent elements can be
               connected. A framework was implemented, with which a user is
               able to perform these tasks interactively. The deletion
               process is supported by various metrics, which enable the
               search and removal of similar structures. Also this
               framework assists the reconnection of vessels by finding the
               most likely connection by the means of image intensities and
               their gradients. The main goal of this thesis was to
               facilitate and accelerate the editing process by
               implementing fast semi-automatic algorithms. Intuitive
               interaction methods also had a major impact on the design.",
  month =      mar,
  address =    "Favoritenstrasse 9-11/E193-02, A-1040 Vienna, Austria",
  school =     "Institute of Computer Graphics and Algorithms, Vienna
               University of Technology ",
  URL =        "https://www.cg.tuwien.ac.at/research/publications/2017/Heim-2017/",
}